It was the only dealership willing to finance a car for her, and at a high interest rate for 4 years. She did the math and found out at the end of 5 years she would have paid over $14,000 for that car. And 2 1/2 years into paying the debt, the car's blue book is now worth $3000 but she owes $7000 left.
That's why until my last car, I only paid between $600 to $3500 for a car. It should last over 2 years, after that, it's free transportation (no monthly payments) and I'd drive them till they were fodder for the junk yard and I saved enough to buy the next one with cash. The most I've sold a used car for is $1500, the least $100. My $3500 car is the one sold for $1500. I had it for 4 years. Do the math. It's only $500/year. Insurance is more of a burden than car payments. Most people spend over $4000/year on car payments. (the parent poster example is almost $3000/year) I get a replacement when repairs become over $500/year. I'll change fuel pump, brakes, mufflers, alternators, belts, hoses, plugs, filters, and starters myself. Most of those parts are under $200.
A year ago I bought a year old Prius. I plan on having it for a long time. It'l be paid for in a couple years, then I save for my next one. Saving money is better than borrowing and paying interest. Intrest not paid is like free tax free money. If possible, save to buy a car, not borrow to get a nice car you can't afford.
If you get an older car, check carfax and take it to a reputable mechanic to check it over. They usualy charge $35-$60 to check out a car. It's worth it. (found hidden front end damage. It would have been an alignment nightmare) It kept me from buying an expensive lemon.
If it's harmless, it can be a class 1 without any sort of interlock.
Good call. I thought it was fully enclosed, no radiation.. I just looked it up.
http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/rss/laser/laserhazard.ht m
Quote Class 1 Not capable of emitting in excess of the Class 1 AEL Most lasers in this class are lasers which are in an enclosure which prohibits or limits access to the laser radiation
The picture of the bottom of the mouse shows the laser label. "Class 1 laser device"
If memory serves me right, a class 1 LASER device has a totaly enclosed interlocked LASER system.
This means no external radiation of LASER light unless the device is opened and interlocks are defeated. It's the same rating CD drives have. The drive must be opened (cover removed) and tricked into operation without a CD in place to turn on the LASER and cause any exposure.
If it truly uses a LASER to track and is class 1, it must have another LED to sense the presence and movement of the target (table, pad, etc) before it will turn on the laser. Otherwise it would have a class 2 or 3b rating like a supermarket UPC scanner. They may have done this to save power when the mouse is not moving (low power LED when stationary or not on a surface) and to get the safer LASER class 1 rating.
I imagine it will only kick on the LASER when the low power light detects movement and kicks on the LASER for the resolution.
Handicam's in the US use NTSC. Most laptops use a propritory digital parallel interface. Most are VGA and above. They DON'T use the slow television sweep speeds. Unless they used a scan converter, broke out RGB analog and converted it to RGB digital, I doubt anything as simple as connecting the output of a camera to the input of the LCD display happened. Using a portable DVD player with a video input would be more believable. Getting consumer NTSC video into a laptop display has never been an easy patch.
Better night vision can be had with an IR sensitive monochrome security camera and IR LED floodlight. Find a camera with a removable IR filter or one without one made for IR use.
How can anyone claim Microsoft is a monopoly that unfairly prices its products?
Shop the Sunday papers. Find the hardware you like. Does it have a price without an OS so you can pick and choose your own? It's not a free market. Either you commit to going all MS on your machines you make and sell, or pay a much higher price so you can't compete with 90% of your sales.
Your choices as a manufacture to sell several lines of OS are limited by the monopoly deals. That's why so few manufactures got a deal where they can sell Linsows machines alongside Windows machines. Try getting a manufacturing OS license from MS for a dual boot machine.... For evidence, go to your local retailer and request a dual boot Red Hat and Win XP machine. I can save you the time.. You won't find it from a major retailer.
You work in you PJs then? Glad I don't work with you.
I was thinking most people would understand things like helmet and something to keep your skin on when you slide along the pavement, and something to keep you dry in the rain, warm in the snow, and keep bugs out of your eyes and teeth.
Workplace dress code does not require the above items. I only work in my PJ's when I telecommute. Then dressing for travel is not an issue.
Instead of going out and attacking something new and different that you don't understand, like you did with the cassete tape
What they understand is with a tape, the 3rd copy of a copy is pretty bad, especialy if some of the recorders used automatic recording level control, are mis-aligned, have wow and flutter, have dirty heads, etc. Each generation is a guranteed loss of quality. Soon there are few 1st gen recordings and lots of bad 3rd and 4th gen copies.
What terrifies them is with P-P, the 100th generation copy is the same as the original rip. Tape copies self limit. P-P doesn't have that limit. A sea of 20th generation copies avaliable anywhere for free and just as good as the original is what they understand.
It's not the same as sharing a bad tape copy and saying if you like the music, get the orignal without the hiss, wow & flutter, and AGC compression. The original is awsome, you gotta hear it for yourself. The idea the nth generation copy is good enough to not need to buy the album is what the industry understands.
I have side impact beams, air bags, seatbelts, side air bags, can carry 4 passangers and their luggage or groceries, enjoy the stereo, use the navigation system, has heat and AC, and still get 48-52 MPG. I also don't need to get dressed special to run to work.
My old police scanner is now classified as a wiretap.
It got the classification when it became illegal to have a device that could listen to analog cell phones and the base of the old 49 Mhz cordless phones. I think some analog voice pages are also included in the mix. I can scrap my old scanner, but it's a crime to own or sell it.
Breaking encryption isn't always nessary to be a criminal.
Bullshit. Stop using Win9x. Notepad on NT has always been able to handle large files.
Ya got me. I stopped the upgrade treadmill at WIN98SE then moved to Linux. I wasn't going to spend more $$$ on MS and I'm not going to pirate it. I didn't know notepad was fixed in newer versions. I haven't tried it. It's not a good reason to spend a couple hundred dollars on an OS upgrade when a 3rd party text editor works fine.
My old laptop uses EDO memory and has a 72 MEG limit. There is no reason install a larger OS to provide less memory for applications. It's primarly used for GPS map applications and MIDI. It has the MPU-401 port that many new machines omit. It has real RS232 and Centronics ports to interface with my favorite projects. The only things it lacks are a USB port and room for more memory.
Maybe it's time to buy a newer laptop. When I do, it probably won't have MS software, so I'll still keep the old machine with it's obsolete OS for the GPS and MIDI.
I just want to crank out a quick letter or memo. I doubt I'm far removed from the typical word user who could give a rats about XML.
It's simple really. Send the document to someone with a MAC or who does not have MS software. They may write back complaining they can't read your propritory file format document. Could you send it as text or XML instead?
That's when you care about your file format. Don't assume everybody is running MS software and can read your quick letter or memo. They care even more when it contains a worm macro and Norton bounces it. Memos and letters should not contain executable code.
But why use WORD to create HTML documents? That's what notepad is for.
Notepad has a serious size limit. It's ok for a couple pages, but falls flat when doing a full document. There is just too much stuff that notepad can't open because it's too large. I quickly move on to other text based editors.
I've pretty much limited my games to ones that will play without the CD in the drive.
It drives the salesman nuts. I'm looking for a LAN play game that will spawn users so I don't need 20 copies for the party and will play without the CD in the drive.
Nerf Arena Blast makes a great LAN party game. The DEMO version meets all the requirements and is free. The full version requires a small text file edit to play without the CD in the drive, but to not have legal issues at a LAN party, we just stick to the demo version.
Game manufactures have gotten out of line in providing what the consumer wants and sales are hurt by it. Unfortunately piracy hurts sales also. They are trying to find a balance of retail price, piracy protection and user friendlieness. If the average sales price of games were $5 instead of $50 and didn't have copy protection, I'd have a much larger collection of games that I would actualy play.
Games messing up some PC's and PC's needing bleeding edge hardware to play is the big reason consoles are so popular. I have a collection of expensive games that none of the PC's in my house will play properly. Activision's Spiderman is the worst. (Box PN 32249.275.US ISBN 1-58416-424-7 UPC 047875322493) I've had 3 video cards in 3 machines running WIN 98 SE, WIN ME, and XP Home. The best I got is choppy sound, video playing at about 2x xpeed and regular crashes. Buying another video card for a maybe game fix is no longer an option. Lucas Arts Star Wars Pod Racer is another one that has regular crashes and complains about the need for upgrading Active X to an older version.
Pod racer looks like it could have been fun in a LAN party, but having a LAN party where only one machine can kinda play it kinda defeats the purpose.
The large amount of high priced buggy software is the big reason I no longer buy pig in a poke no-refunds games for the PC. Copy protection is just another layer of buggs and another reason to not buy it. Compound that with high price and no refunds seals the no sale.
If my wife had a job with the same income as mine, we'd be there. We decided to do foster care instead. It was our choice. We could if we wanted to, but we chose to stop and smell the roses instead of hitting the gindstone for a bigger house and fatter retirement.
This virus causes 1-900 numbers to be dialed and connected for more than 1 minute (sometimes as long as 2 minutes).
Contact your provider. Most offer a plan that disables 1-900 calls. I have no reason to call the toll numbers. Other family members use the phone. No need for expensive suprises.
If you need to use 1-900 numbers, consider having it only on the land line. POTS phones don't run games and trojans.
foolishly, make you listen to an entire voicemail message before deleting it (in the cell phone world Cingular does this too),
Market forces tend to weed out these pratices. ATT had a consumer support problem. With number portability, they got the message something needed to change. When phone SPAM becomes too much and Cingular fails to keep consumers when the contract expires, then they will either change or fold. I love a free market!
This plan doesn't even force to report results after you check them."
Umm, much like I can refuse to take a breath test after an accident? I can refuse one in my state. The consequences for doing so is loss of license.. I can see failure to provide data = failure to get insurance.
Me - "I need to renew my policy." Them - "Come back in 5 years with a clean driving record."
When you say "horning in on your resources", do you mean that when GM fires a CAD engineer,
The term is non-compete. He would be limited from working at the FORD plant, but there is noting to stop him from using the skills in a non-automotive field. He could use his CAD skills at the Texico Refinery for example. They don't make cars.
I went from a bench tech position to an R&D position. I still use my electronics, but I don't compete with the TV shop to remove a stuck videotape.
and get a job at McDonalds or something for the next two years?
Um no you don't have to downgrade. I upgraded. I was in the technical service sector (2way radio, broadcast, satelite, consumer electronics repair). The shop has a non compete clause so I could not ditch them to work for the TV shop down the street. No probelm. I moved into R&D. I moved from a dying industry. (A $1200 VCR would get repaired. A $80 VCR gets replaced) I still use my technical skills. It's now on million dollar pieces of equipment, not sub $100 VCR's. I no longer deal with consumer electronics.
Look at related fields. A hard drive tech, could move to optical drives or removable media drives. With a solid electronics background, you could move into other insturmentation fields such as medical monitoring devices. There is no reason to work at McDee's just because you shoulden't work at another hard drive plant.
If your skill set is so limited, it's just hard drive technology, you need an education. A good electronics, physics, or engineering cource go a long way to marketable skills. Get a good base understanding, then specialize for the bucks, but be ready to change specialty in the same type of field, not the same specialty. A BS in electrical engineering is kinda wasted at McDee's. You can do better.
Um, no. I have several clocking circuits running. One inverts the low voltage into high voltage (not a lossless circuit) and another drives the output bridge for 60 HZ AC (driving transistrors still requires power) and the regulation and protection circuits are active. The noise suppression absorbs some power and the LED draws some power.
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It was the only dealership willing to finance a car for her, and at a high interest rate for 4 years. She did the math and found out at the end of 5 years she would have paid over $14,000 for that car. And 2 1/2 years into paying the debt, the car's blue book is now worth $3000 but she owes $7000 left.
That's why until my last car, I only paid between $600 to $3500 for a car. It should last over 2 years, after that, it's free transportation (no monthly payments) and I'd drive them till they were fodder for the junk yard and I saved enough to buy the next one with cash. The most I've sold a used car for is $1500, the least $100. My $3500 car is the one sold for $1500. I had it for 4 years. Do the math. It's only $500/year. Insurance is more of a burden than car payments. Most people spend over $4000/year on car payments. (the parent poster example is almost $3000/year) I get a replacement when repairs become over $500/year. I'll change fuel pump, brakes, mufflers, alternators, belts, hoses, plugs, filters, and starters myself. Most of those parts are under $200.
A year ago I bought a year old Prius. I plan on having it for a long time. It'l be paid for in a couple years, then I save for my next one. Saving money is better than borrowing and paying interest. Intrest not paid is like free tax free money. If possible, save to buy a car, not borrow to get a nice car you can't afford.
If you get an older car, check carfax and take it to a reputable mechanic to check it over. They usualy charge $35-$60 to check out a car. It's worth it. (found hidden front end damage. It would have been an alignment nightmare) It kept me from buying an expensive lemon.
I'd say he's trying to get rid of his Mother-in-Law.
Looks more like a possible Darwin award. Short wheelbase wheelchair, high center of gravity, 60 mph, no helmet or leather gear...
If it's harmless, it can be a class 1 without any sort of interlock.
t m
Good call. I thought it was fully enclosed, no radiation.. I just looked it up.
http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/rss/laser/laserhazard.h
Quote
Class 1
Not capable of emitting in excess of the Class 1 AEL
Most lasers in this class are lasers which are in an enclosure which prohibits or limits access to the laser radiation
It says most, not all as I had assumed.
The picture of the bottom of the mouse shows the laser label. "Class 1 laser device"
If memory serves me right, a class 1 LASER device has a totaly enclosed interlocked LASER system.
This means no external radiation of LASER light unless the device is opened and interlocks are defeated. It's the same rating CD drives have. The drive must be opened (cover removed) and tricked into operation without a CD in place to turn on the LASER and cause any exposure.
If it truly uses a LASER to track and is class 1, it must have another LED to sense the presence and movement of the target (table, pad, etc) before it will turn on the laser. Otherwise it would have a class 2 or 3b rating like a supermarket UPC scanner. They may have done this to save power when the mouse is not moving (low power LED when stationary or not on a surface) and to get the safer LASER class 1 rating.
I imagine it will only kick on the LASER when the low power light detects movement and kicks on the LASER for the resolution.
LASER is an acronym. I'm not shouting.
Handicam's in the US use NTSC. Most laptops use a propritory digital parallel interface. Most are VGA and above. They DON'T use the slow television sweep speeds. Unless they used a scan converter, broke out RGB analog and converted it to RGB digital, I doubt anything as simple as connecting the output of a camera to the input of the LCD display happened. Using a portable DVD player with a video input would be more believable. Getting consumer NTSC video into a laptop display has never been an easy patch.
Better night vision can be had with an IR sensitive monochrome security camera and IR LED floodlight. Find a camera with a removable IR filter or one without one made for IR use.
How can anyone claim Microsoft is a monopoly that unfairly prices its products?
Shop the Sunday papers. Find the hardware you like. Does it have a price without an OS so you can pick and choose your own? It's not a free market. Either you commit to going all MS on your machines you make and sell, or pay a much higher price so you can't compete with 90% of your sales.
Your choices as a manufacture to sell several lines of OS are limited by the monopoly deals. That's why so few manufactures got a deal where they can sell Linsows machines alongside Windows machines. Try getting a manufacturing OS license from MS for a dual boot machine.... For evidence, go to your local retailer and request a dual boot Red Hat and Win XP machine. I can save you the time.. You won't find it from a major retailer.
You work in you PJs then? Glad I don't work with you.
I was thinking most people would understand things like helmet and something to keep your skin on when you slide along the pavement, and something to keep you dry in the rain, warm in the snow, and keep bugs out of your eyes and teeth.
Workplace dress code does not require the above items. I only work in my PJ's when I telecommute. Then dressing for travel is not an issue.
Instead of going out and attacking something new and different that you don't understand, like you did with the cassete tape
What they understand is with a tape, the 3rd copy of a copy is pretty bad, especialy if some of the recorders used automatic recording level control, are mis-aligned, have wow and flutter, have dirty heads, etc. Each generation is a guranteed loss of quality. Soon there are few 1st gen recordings and lots of bad 3rd and 4th gen copies.
What terrifies them is with P-P, the 100th generation copy is the same as the original rip. Tape copies self limit. P-P doesn't have that limit. A sea of 20th generation copies avaliable anywhere for free and just as good as the original is what they understand.
It's not the same as sharing a bad tape copy and saying if you like the music, get the orignal without the hiss, wow & flutter, and AGC compression. The original is awsome, you gotta hear it for yourself. The idea the nth generation copy is good enough to not need to buy the album is what the industry understands.
I'd rather save a life, mine.
I have side impact beams, air bags, seatbelts, side air bags, can carry 4 passangers and their luggage or groceries, enjoy the stereo, use the navigation system, has heat and AC, and still get 48-52 MPG. I also don't need to get dressed special to run to work.
I love my Prius.
1. Remove the gas cap.
2. Move remainder of car off the driveway.
3. Attach a Toyota Prius or Civic Hybrid to the gas cap.
I tried that. I got rid of my Mustang and got a Prius. The gas cap wouldn't fit. I hate propritary hardware.
Good thing the Prius came with a gas cap. As a bonus, it's attached to the car so it won't get lost at the pump.
My old police scanner is now classified as a wiretap.
It got the classification when it became illegal to have a device that could listen to analog cell phones and the base of the old 49 Mhz cordless phones. I think some analog voice pages are also included in the mix. I can scrap my old scanner, but it's a crime to own or sell it.
Breaking encryption isn't always nessary to be a criminal.
Bullshit. Stop using Win9x. Notepad on NT has always been able to handle large files.
Ya got me. I stopped the upgrade treadmill at WIN98SE then moved to Linux. I wasn't going to spend more $$$ on MS and I'm not going to pirate it. I didn't know notepad was fixed in newer versions. I haven't tried it. It's not a good reason to spend a couple hundred dollars on an OS upgrade when a 3rd party text editor works fine.
My old laptop uses EDO memory and has a 72 MEG limit. There is no reason install a larger OS to provide less memory for applications. It's primarly used for GPS map applications and MIDI. It has the MPU-401 port that many new machines omit. It has real RS232 and Centronics ports to interface with my favorite projects. The only things it lacks are a USB port and room for more memory.
Maybe it's time to buy a newer laptop. When I do, it probably won't have MS software, so I'll still keep the old machine with it's obsolete OS for the GPS and MIDI.
I just want to crank out a quick letter or memo. I doubt I'm far removed from the typical word user who could give a rats about XML.
It's simple really. Send the document to someone with a MAC or who does not have MS software. They may write back complaining they can't read your propritory file format document. Could you send it as text or XML instead?
That's when you care about your file format. Don't assume everybody is running MS software and can read your quick letter or memo. They care even more when it contains a worm macro and Norton bounces it. Memos and letters should not contain executable code.
But why use WORD to create HTML documents? That's what notepad is for.
Notepad has a serious size limit. It's ok for a couple pages, but falls flat when doing a full document. There is just too much stuff that notepad can't open because it's too large. I quickly move on to other text based editors.
I've pretty much limited my games to ones that will play without the CD in the drive.
It drives the salesman nuts. I'm looking for a LAN play game that will spawn users so I don't need 20 copies for the party and will play without the CD in the drive.
Nerf Arena Blast makes a great LAN party game. The DEMO version meets all the requirements and is free. The full version requires a small text file edit to play without the CD in the drive, but to not have legal issues at a LAN party, we just stick to the demo version.
Game manufactures have gotten out of line in providing what the consumer wants and sales are hurt by it. Unfortunately piracy hurts sales also. They are trying to find a balance of retail price, piracy protection and user friendlieness. If the average sales price of games were $5 instead of $50 and didn't have copy protection, I'd have a much larger collection of games that I would actualy play.
Games messing up some PC's and PC's needing bleeding edge hardware to play is the big reason consoles are so popular. I have a collection of expensive games that none of the PC's in my house will play properly. Activision's Spiderman is the worst. (Box PN 32249.275.US ISBN 1-58416-424-7 UPC 047875322493) I've had 3 video cards in 3 machines running WIN 98 SE, WIN ME, and XP Home. The best I got is choppy sound, video playing at about 2x xpeed and regular crashes. Buying another video card for a maybe game fix is no longer an option. Lucas Arts Star Wars Pod Racer is another one that has regular crashes and complains about the need for upgrading Active X to an older version.
Pod racer looks like it could have been fun in a LAN party, but having a LAN party where only one machine can kinda play it kinda defeats the purpose.
The large amount of high priced buggy software is the big reason I no longer buy pig in a poke no-refunds games for the PC. Copy protection is just another layer of buggs and another reason to not buy it. Compound that with high price and no refunds seals the no sale.
Let's name him Darl!
I was thinking of something more accurate such as Rat Fink.
raise your hand.
(sits on hands)
If my wife had a job with the same income as mine, we'd be there. We decided to do foster care instead. It was our choice. We could if we wanted to, but we chose to stop and smell the roses instead of hitting the gindstone for a bigger house and fatter retirement.
This virus causes 1-900 numbers to be dialed and connected for more than 1 minute (sometimes as long as 2 minutes).
Contact your provider. Most offer a plan that disables 1-900 calls. I have no reason to call the toll numbers. Other family members use the phone. No need for expensive suprises.
If you need to use 1-900 numbers, consider having it only on the land line. POTS phones don't run games and trojans.
(I know it's humor, laugh)
This is Slashdot...
/. but some of us managed to get married somehow inspite of being a geek.
And some women are not too bright and has never dated a geek before.
True, this is
inbox full of VM's doesnt interrupt your dinner
Neither does a full answering machine. What's the point again?
If it's so friends can get in touch with me, no problem. I carry a text pager, not a phone. They know the web page and number if it's an emergency.
foolishly, make you listen to an entire voicemail message before deleting it (in the cell phone world Cingular does this too),
Market forces tend to weed out these pratices. ATT had a consumer support problem. With number portability, they got the message something needed to change. When phone SPAM becomes too much and Cingular fails to keep consumers when the contract expires, then they will either change or fold. I love a free market!
This plan doesn't even force to report results after you check them."
Umm, much like I can refuse to take a breath test after an accident? I can refuse one in my state. The consequences for doing so is loss of license..
I can see failure to provide data = failure to get insurance.
Me - "I need to renew my policy."
Them - "Come back in 5 years with a clean driving record."
When you say "horning in on your resources", do you mean that when GM fires a CAD engineer,
The term is non-compete. He would be limited from working at the FORD plant, but there is noting to stop him from using the skills in a non-automotive field. He could use his CAD skills at the Texico Refinery for example. They don't make cars.
I went from a bench tech position to an R&D position. I still use my electronics, but I don't compete with the TV shop to remove a stuck videotape.
and get a job at McDonalds or something for the next two years?
Um no you don't have to downgrade. I upgraded. I was in the technical service sector (2way radio, broadcast, satelite, consumer electronics repair). The shop has a non compete clause so I could not ditch them to work for the TV shop down the street. No probelm. I moved into R&D. I moved from a dying industry. (A $1200 VCR would get repaired. A $80 VCR gets replaced) I still use my technical skills. It's now on million dollar pieces of equipment, not sub $100 VCR's. I no longer deal with consumer electronics.
Look at related fields. A hard drive tech, could move to optical drives or removable media drives. With a solid electronics background, you could move into other insturmentation fields such as medical monitoring devices. There is no reason to work at McDee's just because you shoulden't work at another hard drive plant.
If your skill set is so limited, it's just hard drive technology, you need an education. A good electronics, physics, or engineering cource go a long way to marketable skills. Get a good base understanding, then specialize for the bucks, but be ready to change specialty in the same type of field, not the same specialty. A BS in electrical engineering is kinda wasted at McDee's. You can do better.
You have a short somewhere buddy.
Um, no. I have several clocking circuits running. One inverts the low voltage into high voltage (not a lossless circuit) and another drives the output bridge for 60 HZ AC (driving transistrors still requires power) and the regulation and protection circuits are active. The noise suppression absorbs some power and the LED draws some power.
No short here.